Dog's Nose Fungus

Camarops petersii

Camarops petersii is a saprobic fungus in the Boliniaceae family.
Camarops petersii looks like a bulging black eye, complete with eyelids, stuck to the side of a dead log. The eyelid is a veil that protects the young mushroom but soon ruptures to expose the spore-producing surface.
Unknown Camarops petersii,Geotagged,Slovenia,Spring

Appearance

Cushion-shaped fruit bodies are 2-9 cm wide, sub-circular to oval to irregular in shape and up to 2 cm high.
A grayish-brown to yellowish-brown peridium initially encloses the "flesh" (i.e., stroma) of this ascomycete.
The peridium ruptures to reveal the black, glistening, pimple-dotted surface of the stroma. The peridium eventually ends up as a ragged-edged ring of tissue around the periphery of the stroma. Many perithecia are embedded at various depths within the stromatal tissue and the ostioles of their long necks terminate at the pimple-dots on the surface. Dark ascospores exude from the ostioles (along with an exudate) to form a wet, shiny film on the surface of the stroma.
Dog's Nose Fungus - Camarops petersii When fresh, this fungus really does resemble (and feel like) a dog's wet nose. The wetness produced by fresh specimens is exuded from the fungus without help from rain or dew. The upper surfaces were black and dull (from age), and were covered with wet dots. Camarops petersii,Fall,Geotagged,United States,dog's nose fungus,fungus

Naming

This fungus was first described in 1869 by Berkeley and Curtis from specimens collected by Judge Thomas M. Peters (1810-1888) in Alabama, who is honored by the specific epithet petersii.

Synonyms:
Bolinia petersii (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) Lloyd;
Hypoxylon petersii Berk. & M.A. Curtis;
Peridoxylon petersii (Berk. & M.A. Curt.) Shear.
Dog's Nose Fungus When fresh, this fungus really does resemble (and feel like) a dog's wet nose. The wetness produced by fresh specimens is exuded from the fungus without help from rain or dew. Unfortunately, these specimens were old and looked more like burnt chocolate tarts. They were about 6cm wide and shaped like cushions. The upper surfaces were black and dull (from age), and were covered with pimple-like dots. Camarops,Camarops petersii,Dog's Nose Fungus,Fall,Fungus,Geotagged,United States

Distribution

The range of Camarops petersii in North America extends from eastern North America to at least Kansas and Cuba.
Dog's Nose Fungus - Camarops petersii The fruiting bodies were black, wet, and had little dots on them. Sizes ranged from ~ 2-6 cm. Habitat: Growing on rotting, decorticated wood in a mixed forest. Camarops,Camarops petersii,Fall,Geotagged,United States,dog's nose fungus,fungus

Habitat

Saprobic; solitary or grouped on decaying (typically decorticated) hardwood logs (e.g., oak, elm); summer and fall. Old records indicate American chestnut was once a common habitat for Camarops petersii before the demise of the tree as a prominent forest species due to the chestnut blight fungus.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://www.messiah.edu/Oakes/fungi_on_wood/puffball%20and%20cushion/species%20pages/Camarops%20petersii.htm
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/camarops_petersii.html
Taxonomy
KingdomFungi
DivisionAscomycota
ClassSordariomycetes
OrderBoliniales
FamilyBoliniaceae
GenusCamarops
SpeciesCamarops petersii
Photographed in
Slovenia
United States of America